Sales Engineer

Vela is a leading independent provider of trading and market access technology for global multi-asset electronic trading. Our software enables clients to rapidly access global liquidity, markets, and data sources for superior execution. We help firms successfully differentiate and innovate in an ever-changing, increasingly-regulated and fiercely-competitive landscape, while also reducing total cost of ownership.

Vela’s ticker plant, execution gateways, trading platform, and risk and analytics software deliver a unique, ultra-low latency technology stack to simplify and streamline electronic trading. We leverage the latest innovations in technology to deliver cutting-edge performance, features and reliability. Our modular stack provides access to a comprehensive set of trading, data and risk APIs and can be delivered as-a-Service from multiple co-location data centers globally.

With access to more than 250 venues, Vela provides global coverage across all major asset classes. Clients are supported by an award-winning team of technical and business experts available 24x7 from our multiple offices in the US, Europe, and Asia. Vela’s clients include traders, market makers, brokers, banks, investment firms, exchanges, and other market participants. 

Vela is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

Job Profile

Being part of Vela’s Sales Engineering team, you will work closely with the engineering, product, support, and sales teams by being the technical liaison to our clients.  Our Sales Engineers are not only responsible for driving new sales opportunities by being the technical expert for Vela’s product lines; they provide phone and in-person support to our clients by understating their requirements and providing them with an optimal solution ensuring our clients success. This role will work as a direct resource for Vela’s automated trading APIs and related professional services projects.

Key Accountabilities

  • Gather and understand the business and technical requirements of our prospects and clearly communicate these internally as required in writing, so a solution can be provided that meets the customer’s needs.
  • Support the technical needs of Vela’s customers and resolve technical issues, along with engaging them on any additional issues, problems or opportunities regarding Vela’s automated trading APIs.
  • Provide technical responses for proposals, RFPs and RFIs.
  • Deliver product demonstrations, build proof-of-concepts, and custom trading algorithms and applications to showcase the product to aid a successful sale.
  • Proactively manage own tasks and projects to agreed deadlines and clearly communicate these both to the customer and internal teams as required. Build, maintain, and update trading applications and algorithms in the Vela StoreFront 
  • Build and maintain strong professional relationships with the Engineering and product teams ensuring that our integration processes run smoothly.
  • Travel: local, regional and international (<20%)

Knowledge, Skills & Experience required

  • Experience with a high level programming language like Java, C++, C#...
  • 3+ years of customer facing experience as a Sales/Support Engineer, Engineer, or Solutions Architect
  • Previous experience working within a data/software vendor, exchange or trading firm
  • Industry knowledge and understanding of financial markets and related terminology, especially options
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
  • Working knowledge of scripting languages
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to convey technical concepts to audiences of various levels.
  • Execution-oriented initiative and with the ability to drive decisions to customer satisfaction
  • High proficiency with Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, Visio and Excel
  • Knowledge of Vela products is a plus
  • Minimum of a degree (or equivalent) in either computer science or related subject or equivalent experience

Further Information

For any further information please get in touch at hr@tradevela.com
or call +1 646 713 2773.

Download Job Specification (PDF)

  • Location

    Chicago

  • Application Process

    Please click on the button below to apply for this position. Note: You will be redirected to a third-party website.

    Apply Now

PRIVACY NOTICE

Please read and agree with the terms and conditions to proceed.

PRIVACY NOTICE – JOB APPLICANTS

WHO WE ARE – THE DATA CONTROLLER

‘We’ are Vela Trading Systems UK Limited (“Vela”), a company incorporated and registered in Northern Ireland with company number NI622024 whose registered office is at Adelaide Exchange, 24-26 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8GD.

We are the “Controller” for the purposes of data protection law. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. You are being sent a copy of this privacy notice because you are applying for work with us (whether as an employee, worker or contractor). It makes you aware of how and why your personal data will be used, namely for the purposes of the recruitment exercise, and how long it will usually be retained for. It provides you with certain information that must be provided under the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (GDPR).

Please note that we may not necessarily hold, use or share all of the types of personal data described in this Privacy Notice in relation to you, the specific types of data about you that we will hold, use and share will depend on the role for which you are applying, the nature of the recruitment process, how far you progress in the recruitment process and your individual circumstances.

DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES

We will comply with data protection law and principles, which means that your data will be:

  • Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
  • Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
  • Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
  • Accurate and kept up to date.
  • Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
  • Kept securely.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE HOLD AND HOW DO WE OBTAIN IT?

In connection with your application for work with us, we will collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information about you:

  • The information you have provided to us in your application form and CV including photograph, employment history, qualifications/training (including educational, vocational, driving licences where appropriate), referees’ names and contact details etc.
  • The information you have provided on our application form, including name, title, address, telephone number, personal email address, employment history and qualifications.
  • Publicly available information about you, such as your business social media presence (e.g. LinkedIn) and any personal blogs.
  • Any information you provide to us during an interview and the results of any written or online selection tests.

We may also collect, store and use the following "special categories" of more sensitive personal information:

  • Equal opportunities monitoring data which could include information about your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, political opinions, sexual orientation and health. We use this information to report and monitor equality of opportunity and diversity in our recruitment process. Our legal ground for using this information is that it is necessary in the public interest for the purposes of equal opportunity monitoring and is in line with our Privacy Standard.
  • Information about your health, including any medical condition, health and sickness records
  • Information about criminal convictions and offences.
How is your personal information collected?

We collect personal information about candidates from the following sources:

  • You, the candidate.
  • Any recruitment agency, involved in your recruitment. The recruitment agency may provide us with a copy of your CV and contact details.
  • Access NI
  • HireRight (our external employee background check provider)
  • Your named referees, from whom we collect the following categories of data: references if you are successful.
How we will use information about you

We will use the personal information we collect about you to:

  • Assess your skills, qualifications, and suitability for the role.
  • Carry out background and reference checks, where applicable.
  • Communicate with you about the recruitment process.
  • Keep records related to our hiring processes.
  • Make informed recruitment decisions.
  • Comply with legal or regulatory requirements, e.g. the obligation on us not to discriminate during our recruitment process or employ someone who does not have the right to work in the UK.

It is in our legitimate interests to decide whether to appoint you to the role since it would be beneficial to our business to appoint someone to that role.

We also need to process your personal information to decide whether to enter into a contract of employment with you and, in some instances, to comply with a legal obligation e.g. the obligation not to discriminate during our recruitment process, or the obligation not to employ someone who does not have the legal right to work in the UK.

Having received your application form and/or CV, we will then process that information to decide whether you meet the basic requirements to be shortlisted for the role. If you do, we will decide whether your application is strong enough to invite you for an interview. If we decide to call you for an interview, we will use the information you provide to us at the interview to decide whether to offer you the role. If we decide to offer you the role, we will then take up references and (if necessary) carry out a criminal record check before confirming your appointment.

If you fail to provide personal information

If you fail to provide information when requested, which is necessary for us to consider your application (such as evidence of qualifications or work history), we will not be able to process your application. For example, if we require a credit check or references for this role and you fail to provide us with relevant details, we will not be able to take your application further.

HOW WE USE PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE INFORMATION

We will use your particularly sensitive personal information in the following ways:

  • We will use information about your disability status to consider whether we need to provide appropriate adjustments during the recruitment process, for example whether adjustments need to be made during interview.
  • We will use information about your race or national or ethnic origin, religious, philosophical or moral beliefs, or your sexual life or sexual orientation, to ensure lawful and meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting.
Information about criminal convictions

We may process information about criminal convictions where we are legally authorised to do so and in compliance with our Criminal Records Information Policy.

We will collect information about your criminal convictions history if we would like to offer you the role (conditional on checks and any other conditions, such as references, being satisfactory). We will carry out a criminal records check in order to satisfy ourselves that there is nothing in your criminal convictions history which makes you unsuitable for the role.

AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING

You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.

DATA SHARING

Why might you share my personal information with third parties?

We may share your personal data that is relevant, where appropriate, with our group company to enable them to input into the recruitment process and approve final recruitment decisions. Our legal grounds for doing so are that: it is necessary for entry into a contract and it is in our legitimate interests to obtain our group company’s approval of our recruitment decisions and comply with the procedures applicable without our corporate group.

For the purposes of GDPR, we are resident in the United Kingdom and regulated by the Information Commissioner’s Office

Overseas transfer of personal data

An overseas transfer of personal data takes place when the data is transmitted or sent to, viewed, accessed or otherwise used in, a different country. Data Protection law restricts transfers of personal data to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) because the law in those countries might not provide the same level of protection to personal data as the law in the EEA. To ensure that the level of protection afforded to personal data is not compromised, therefore, we are only able to transfer your personal data outside the EEA if certain conditions are met, as explained below.

We may transfer your personal data to the USA.

We have put in place the following appropriate measures to ensure that any personal data transferred outside the EEA (for instance, to the USA) is treated in a way that is consistent with and which respects the EEA and UK laws on data protection and receives an adequate level of protection:

  • All information transferred via the Vela internal network is protected by firewalls and VPNs.
  • All machines are protected with anti-virus software.
  • Weekly vulnerability scans are completed on the network and any vulnerabilities that arise and reviewed and resolved if deemed necessary on a regular basis.
  • Access to internal systems and applications is restricted and access is granted in a controlled manner based on need to know and subject to the approval of the information asset owner.

If you require further information about these protective measures, you can request it from the Privacy Team.

Recruitment agencies and external background check providers

We engage recruitment agencies to provide us with details of suitable candidates for our available vacancies, to communicate to those candidates and to handle administration in connection with the recruitment process. If we have received your initial application from a recruitment agency, we will share with them any of your personal data that is necessary to enable them to fulfil their functions for us. We may also send your personal data to “HireRight”, our external background check providers to carry out background checks and to verify information that you have provided to us as part of the recruitment process. Our legal grounds for doing so are that: it is necessary for entry into a contract and it is in our legitimate interest to engage service providers to assist us with the recruitment process.

Medical / occupational health professionals

We may share information relevant to any request by you for adjustments to the recruitment process as a result of an underlying medical condition or disability with medical / occupational health professionals to enable us to identify what, if any, adjustments are needed in the recruitment process and, if you are successful, once you start work. Our legal basis for sharing this information is that it is necessary for entry into a contract; it is in our legitimate interest to consider adjustments to enable job applicants to participate fully in the recruitment process and it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations.

Legal/Professional advisers

We may share your personal data that is relevant, where appropriate, with our legal and other professional advisers, in order to obtain legal or other professional advice about matters related to you or in the course of dealing with legal disputes with you or other job applicants. Our legal grounds for sharing this personal data are that it is in our legitimate interests to seek advice to clarify our rights and obligations and appropriately defend ourselves from potential claims; it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations / exercise legal rights in the field of employment and it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Home Office

We may share your right to work documentation with the Home Office, where necessary, to enable us to verify your right to work in the UK. Our legal ground for sharing this personal data is to comply with our legal obligation not to employ someone who does not have the right to work in the UK.

DATA SECURITY

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. These include physical and administrative security measures at our offices, firewalls and continuously updated anti-virus programmes and encrypted storage. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Our Company data is stored in the following locations:

  • On servers in our offices in the United Kingdom
  • Across several sites connected by a secure communications system
  • By a secure cloud storage provider (i.e. Radius) with data centres in the EU.

DATA RETENTION

How long will you use my information for?

We will keep your personal data throughout the recruitment process.

If your application is successful, when you start work for us you will be issued with an Employee Privacy Notice which will include information about what personal data we keep from the recruitment process and how long we keep your personal data whilst you are working for us and after you have left.

If your application is unsuccessful, we will retain your personal information for a period of twelve months from the date we notify you of our decision. We retain your personal information for that period so that we can show, in the event of a legal claim, that we have not discriminated against candidates on prohibited grounds and that we have conducted the recruitment exercise in a fair and transparent way. After this period, we will securely destroy your personal information in accordance with our Records Retention, Protection and Erasure Policy and Employee Data Retention Guidelines. A copy of the Policy and Guidelines can be accessed on the Vela website.

If we wish to retain your personal information on file, on the basis that a further opportunity may arise in future and we may wish to consider you for that, we will write to you separately, seeking your explicit consent to retain your personal information for a fixed period on that basis.

In all cases, we will not keep your personal data for longer than we need it for our legitimate purposes.

REFERENCES

If you give us details of referees, we require you to inform them what personal data of theirs you are giving to us. You must also give them our contact details and let them know that they should contact us if they have any queries about how we will use their personal data.

YOUR RIGHTS

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

  • Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
  • Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
  • Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
  • Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
  • Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact the Vela Privacy Team by email at: privacy@tradevela.com or in writing to Adelaide Exchange, 24-26 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8GD

Note too that you have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues. Details of how to contact the ICO can be found on its website: http://ico.org.uk

Ready to get started?Contact Us

Enter a search term and hit return when you’re ready

Close